BishopAccountability.org
	Are We Graced or Disgraded? By Jaime Romo Healing and Spirituality January 18, 2010 http://jjromo.wordpress.com/ UNITED STATES -- Today's Blog is a wonderful reflection by Margaret Schettler. You can read her interview from December 10. Margaret writes a timely piece, as we celebrate the life and influence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I appreciate her insight and the thought provoking questions she leaves us with. A dear former colleague at my parish loved to quote an author she admired. I can't remember the author's name, but the quote went something like this: "At every moment I am equally graced and disgraced." When the clergy abuse crisis first burst into our consciousness, many outraged Catholics said , "That is not MY church!" My friend would say, "Oh, but it IS. It is both graced and disgraced". When things went well at work we'd laugh together and say, "There's the grace!" When they went they went badly, we'd joke, "There's the disgrace!" Owning both the grace and the disgrace is the first step toward the possibility of meaningful reform for individuals and organizations. In his memoir, True Compass, Edward Kennedy chronicles decades of work toward achieving racial equality in the United States. Many in Congress believed that the landmark legal decisions and civil rights legislation of the 1950's and 60's would change the course of history. However, in the mid and late 1960's instead of a national mood of celebration, unrest and racial violence spread across the cities of the U.S. Kennedy says that President Johnson and members of Congress were dumbfounded and felt a "crushing" sense of betrayal, particularly since many had risked their political careers for these issues to which they were deeply committed. Kennedy points out that leaders of the time were overly optimistic in believing that civil rights reform had been achieved simply because new laws were enacted. In themselves legal victories did not mean that as a nation we had put an end to racism or its effects. The laws in the 1960's did lay an important foundation for future progress toward racial equality. However, much remained to be accomplished before the changes in our laws would translate into a daily experience reflected in the lives of average American citizens of color. There seems to be a similar disparity in viewing the progress of reform related to the clergy abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Church leaders highlight progress as they see it. Skeptics and critics highlight areas where they see a lack of progress. In 2004, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Wilton Gregory, referred to a report on the extent and causes of the clergy abuse crisis and said, "The terrible history recorded here is history". A few years ago I attended a Virtus Teaching Touching Safety training session at which the US Catholic Bishops' progress in the area of child abuse prevention education was praised as "unprecedented in the history of the world". There was no reference to the unprecedented revelations of sexual abuse of children by clergy, or the cover up of those crimes that prompted action by the bishops. I contacted an archdiocesan leader to voice my concern about the use of such a misleading claim that never mentioned clergy abuse survivors. A few weeks later I was informed that clergy abuse survivors would be specifically acknowledged at all future adult training sessions through a specific prayer for victims. At a meeting in 2008 on L.A. Archdiocesan finances I asked Cardinal Mahony what provisions were made in the budget for future sexual abuse claims following the global legal settlements of the previous summer. He quickly replied that there would be no further legal claims because we were doing such a great job with abuse prevention education in the L.A. Archdiocese. Surely he knew that his answer was an exaggeration. In reality individuals continue to come forward with previously unreported allegations of sex abuse by clergy. How do you measure progress, or lack of progress towards justice and a healthy organizational environment related to religious authority sexual abuse? By the numbers of people participating in sex abuse prevention classes in a diocese? By the numbers of times church officials called law enforcement to report abuse allegations against an employee? By the numbers of bishops who resigned or were fired for enabling or covering up for known abusers? By the numbers of dollars spent on psychological counseling for abuse victims? By the numbers of victims who meet with the Pope? By how many children report abuse as soon as it happens? By the numbers of pedophiles who are monitored and supervised to prevent them from re-offending? By the numbers of laws passed extending criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse? By the numbers of formerly confidential church documents made public? By a declining percentage of suicides among clergy abuse victims? Does progress in one area translate reflect on progress in every area? Does failure in one area negate progress in other areas? It is easy to criticize and blame. Consciously taking steps towards meaningful change is easier said than done. Systemic change is slow, uphill, going against the grain. It requires new ways of seeing, thinking, and relating to an issue. It often feels uncomfortable. It's everyone's work over time to make sure that it goes so deep that people no longer have to look at the policies to know the right thing to do. Over the past several years how has your thinking changed related to religious authority sexual abuse, or child sexual abuse in general? What brought about the change? What is your role in making sure that needed changes are not just on paper? How has a change in your thinking affected your actions? How do you measure progress toward ending child sexual abuse?
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